Friday, 6 October 2017

So it is upon us. Many of you will have seen it. I'm 48 hours out from seeing a film that I'm more excited for than Star Wars. Seriously! Which is something I never thought I'd say.

Blade Runner: 2049.

Over the last couple of years the kindly chaps at Last Exit to Nowhere have commissioned Christmas cards based on some cinematic classics. This year it was Blade Runners turn. So here we have, Diddy Deckard, one of 4 images that will form this years addition to their gift card range, out soon.

If you save up your pocket money, you can impress the flipping heck out of your friends!

Friday, 18 August 2017

So fresh rumours today that there will in fact be an Obi-Wan film rolling into production.

There have been many exciting things discussed about a potential Obi-Wan film online in recent months.

'If I was pitching one, it would be Obi-Wan as a nomadic warrior in the deserts of Tatooine, playing Bounty Hunters and Imperial death squads off against each other as they scour the dusty wastelands for a fabled child.A gritty western, but with lightsabers, speeder-bikes and spaceships.'

Monday, 5 June 2017

Thursday, 4 May 2017

I rather enjoyed Rogue One last year, and I'm really looking forward to further Star Wars Stories. As well as the Saga stories, you understand?

If I was pitching one, it would be Obi-Wan as a nomadic warrior in the deserts of Tatooine, playing Bounty Hunters and Imperial death squads off against each other as they scour the dusty wastelands for a fabled child.

A gritty western, but with lightsabers, speeder-bikes and spaceships.

Also, I'd like to see Garth Evans (The Raid) doing a Boba Fett film. Maybe these could be the one and the same?

Wednesday, 12 April 2017

Been a long time fan of the Alien franchise (despite a couple of weaker entries (we're also pretending AVP doesn't exist. At all.)) and I'm eagerly looking forward to Alien Covenant.

From what I've seen so far its looking pretty 'on point'. The idea of seeing the xenomorph scuttling through forests is an intriguing one, with all the other movies taking place in engineered (see what i did there?) structures.

I don't know if we'll get to see that, however the fact that in the trailer they suggest there are no birds or insects implies that they've been scared off by... something.

Or eaten.

I drew this before I saw the beautiful poster art that was released a few weeks ago. If the film is half as good as that artwork then we're in for a real treat.

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Elite was the first computer game I loved. Sheets of hand written notes, price guides and star maps littered the computer room.

25 years later and I'm frame-shifting around the bubble and beyond, trading, smuggling and exploring (with a pinch of killin' in there for good measure). The game continues to expand but I've barely scratched the surface. It's awesome.

I for one cannot wait until I can land my Asp X on the surface of one of the planets with atmosphere. Rain drumming on the canopy, soaring with winged beasts above endless lakes, farming blue cacti, or setting up a trading post in a distant savanna... They wont match the freedom of my imagination, but I hope they try.

In the meantime, here's some speed-paints I did featuring a screen-grabbed Asp X.

Thursday, 23 February 2017

Today NASA announced the discovery of 7 planets orbiting the star Trappist-1.

'All of these seven planets could have liquid water - key to life as we know it - under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.'

They're also close enough so that looking up from the surface of one, you could see the other 6 hanging in the sky some the size of our moon.

I don't think the view from the furthest world would look like this as its not one of the ones in the Goldilocks zone, and the sun would be 10 times larger.

However, with an orbit in the region of days, these worlds and their star-field would shift across the sky in minutes and hours rather than the entire night that it takes our moon to move from one horizon to the other. It would be majestic.

NASA claim that they will be able to detect an atmosphere of oxygen sometime in the next few years using information from Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Monday, 20 February 2017

Its rare that I'll sit down with the intention of producing some traditional looking landscape paintings, but after a few months of winter with the dramatic lighting that comes with it, I was inspired enough to do just that.

Wharfedale's Almscliffe Crag and the Cow and Calf Rocks on the edge of Ilkley moor, were the inspiration for these paintings.

However, not content with depicting the awesome majesty of nature, I felt the need to add spaceships. Its a well known scientific fact that spaceships make pretty much everything 23% better, so it seemed foolish not to exploit this.

Sunday, 22 January 2017

I've been catching up with a few movies recently, one of them being Spike Lee's CHI-RAQ. While it not going to be everyones cup of tea, I found the theatrical nature of the performances, the delivery of the comedy, and the poetic dialogue, reminiscent of shakespeare's work, especially in contemporary adaptations such as Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliette.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, you can find it to rent or at cinemas now.

*Since posting (about 8 seconds ago) I learned it is in fact based on the ancient greek play Lysistrata, making my comments somewhat redundant.